Dispelling truths about our favorite dynasty

Anne Boleyn as played by two great actresses, Natalie Dormer and Genevive Bujold in “The Tudors” and “Anne of a Thousand Days”.

On the 19th of May, 1536, Anne Boleyn was executed. Anne Boleyn was the first Queen of England (or former if you want to get technical) to be executed. Her execution was originally set on the eighteenth but it was postponed. Anne was deeply distraught. According to Kingston, the Captain of the guard, she would after be laughing and joking about her own mortality. And at other times she was jovial, engaging in conversation with her aunt, and the other women around her, including his wife. But on that morning of May nineteenth, Anne walked to the scaffold where she was immortalized by her next speech:

Anne Boleyn’s execution in “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” (1970) where she was played by Dorothy Tutin

“Good Christian people,
I am come hither to die,
for according to the law
and by the law I am judged to die,
and therefore I will speak nothing against it.
I am come hither to accuse no man,
nor to speak anything of that whereof I am accused and condemned to die,
but I pray God save the king
and send him long to reign over you,
for a gentler nor more merciful prince was there never:
and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and sovereign lord.
And if any person will meddle of my cause,
I require them to judge the best.
And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all,
and I heartily desire you all pray for me.
Oh Lord have mercy on me,
to God I commend my soul.”

Her words were fully remembered and recorded and they moved the crowd, who despite (some of them) their dislike for this maligned Queen, they knelt and did as she asked them to, pray for her.

Then she gave a pouch of money to her executioner –provided to her by Henry- and knelt, bracing herself for what was coming next. In one stroke, it was all over. Anne Boleyn was no more.

Some historians like Leanda de Lisle argue about the method of execution. Why did Henry VIII use a sword instead of an axe? Anne was afraid of fire and rightly so. Henry VIII saw himself as a cavalier, a knight in shining armor if you will. In his view death by the sword served the purpose to show that he was the purveyor of justice and the sword was also a symbol of Camelot, of righteousness and Henry always saw himself as the great purveyor of justice. Against what is shown on film and TV, there was nothing absolutely romantic about her end, it was tragic, it was sad, it was unfortunate. Period. And the sword was Henry’s long-stand view that nothing was wrong with this kingdom, and that justice had prevailed once more.